In the third quarter on Friday night, Cocke County retook momentum in a back-and-forth matchup with Hardin Valley.
Spencer Moore Jr. punched in a touchdown from two yards out, and at 8:47 p.m., CCHS took the lead at 15-14.
By 8:49, any momentum on the Big Red sideline had been washed away.
HVA kick returner Nicholas Rivers housed a 90-yard return to put the Hawks up 21-15, setting the tone for a 37-15 result at Larry Williams Stadium.
“That kickoff return strikes, and all the momentum comes out of us,” said CCHS head coach Scotty Dykes in reflection Friday. “It’s frustrating, to see the kids play hard through three quarters and to be in position to take control of that game. But we just couldn’t seem to make that step.”
After giving up 58 yards on 16 touches in the first half, Cocke County allowed the Hawks to rack up 222 rushing yards on 28 carries through the second half alone.
Halfback Kaden Cutcher led the Hawks with 24 carries for 192 yards and four scores, pacing the visitors in the win.
HVA ran Cutcher on a steady dose of counters and inside zone selections, which stymied Cocke County throughout the second half.
“Basically they changed a formation but ran the same plays they had been running,” said Dykes. “We changed our defense several times, made some substitutions. I don’t know if we were just gassed or what, but there came a point where we just couldn’t stop the run.
“They ran the same two plays, inside zone and counter, and we never could make a tackle. In position to make several, and just couldn’t.”
The loss brings a frustrating result for a Cocke County team that looked for a bit of momentum entering region play.
Instead, CCHS will travel to Sevier County at 0-3, while the Smoky Bears will roll in at 3-0 after defeating Lenoir City 42-6 on Friday.
“I told them we’ve got two choices,” said Dykes. “We can quit, or we can find a way to fix it somehow. It’s crazy — it seems like we have played ten games, as frustrating as these losses have been to be in the games and lose them.”
For Cocke County, that “fix-it” process will have to come in offensive execution and making tackles on defense.
CCHS mustered just 15 points in 37 minutes of possession on Friday, with both touchdowns coming on short runs from Moore.
He led the team with 68 yards on 14 carries with those two scores and a fumble, while registering a 14-for-25 clip through the air for 118 yards.
Cocke County scored on its first possession of the night, with Moore plunging into the end zone from five yards out to take an 8-0 lead after Oren Hazelwood’s conversion catch.
But CCHS fizzled out on its next two drives, while HVA responded with Cutcher’s first touchdown midway through the second quarter.
“We did some good things, and early-on, I felt like we had some passes that could have been caught, but had some that weren’t catchable,” said Dykes. “I don’t know if it was nerves or what, but once we settled in, we moved the ball from 30 to 30.
“But then a penalty or a snap would still hinder us, and we would get behind the chains and couldn’t muster any more than those eight points.”
Cocke County moved to the Hardin Valley 40-yard-line before halftime, but Moore was sacked to keep the score at 8-7 at the break.
CCHS went three-and-out to start the second half, and Cutcher and Ryder Dozier split carries on the Hawks’ next drive en route to a go-ahead touchdown.
Cocke County bounced back with a quick response, but HVA came back with the aforementioned return to take momentum for good.
Cutcher scored twice more for the Hawks, and Cocke County suffered a safety in the final 10 minutes to mark the final margin.
Defensively, CCHS saw a team-leading 5.5 tackles for Bo Proffitt, while Nathan Holbrook led HVA with one tackle.
Oren Hazelwood caught two passes for 41 yards, Taylos Thomas hauled in three passes for 34 yards, and Eli Roberts caught four passes for 30 yards for CCHS.
Daniel Price took five returns for 137 yards for Cocke County, but he was stuffed for -14 yards on four carries.
Going forward, CCHS will look to rebound against the Smoky Bears in Sevierville next week.
“We’re 0-3, and we haven’t played a region game yet,” said Dykes. “So our focus has to turn to Sevier County, obviously the best team in the region. But after that we’ve got four region games we can win. And we have to go after those and see what happens. Still a lot of football to be played, and I think we can win a lot of these games.“
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